


Five Times Chaff Thought Eleven Might Have a Chance

by LorienofLoth



Series: If I could only bring them home [1]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mentors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 07:35:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6414697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LorienofLoth/pseuds/LorienofLoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chaff mentors for 29 Hunger Games, and most of the time, he gives up before he starts. A few times, he doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times Chaff Thought Eleven Might Have a Chance

The Fifty-Fourth games, Mariposa Jennings, long and lean and lithe, whittled away by hunger into perfect lines that the Capitolians couldn’t get enough of, cheekbones sharp enough to cut, and commentary to match, brilliant white teeth making her smile perpetually mocking. She was fast, too, fast enough to grab a water purifier and some food from the Cornucopia and hurdle out of there before the Careers started slaughtering the meat, and Chaff thought Eleven might have its third soon. Until day seven, when Mariposa ran straight into the arms of the boy from One. And that wasn’t at all fast.

The Sixtieth games, Addam Taylor, quiet, nervous, shy, sly. Had a rumoured history of sneaking into Eleven’s vast food sheds to steal for his family, but he had never been caught, and he moved around the arena like a shadow, taking food supplies from other tributes, while the Kissing Killer tore the pack apart, and Chaff dared to hope that he would be another Seeder, able to wait the others out. Right until day nine, when the dark horse favourite, the girl from Ten, strangled him with an improvised lasso while he smashed her skull into fragments on the rocks.

The Sixty-Fifth games, Cane Wilson, tall and hulking and oh so blazingly angry, at the overseers and the games and the whole world, and that anger feeds him, fuels him as he stares down Flickerman and the audience, as he throttles Five Girl when she attacks him one night, and as he lies thrashing in the mud with Finnick Odair’s beautiful golden trident through his guts, and as he lies there dying slowly after it was pulled out, no mercy kill for the angry boy from Eleven who hated the sponsors and the audience and the games themselves so visibly. 

The Seventieth games, Barley Timber, strong from years of working in the fields. Smiling and friendly and sponsor gold, she built a trap for the boy from Two, clubbing him to death, confident and smiling and still so friendly. Chaff believed in Barley as he had almost stopped believing in his tributes and he believed in her as she stepped over the hulking boy from Seven to make Final Eight, and as the dam broke and she was dragged underwater for the first time in her life, and he believed in her until she floated to the surface, hours later. 

The Seventy-Fourth games, Thresh, quietly resentful. Seeder liked Rue, liked her speed and her cleverness, but Chaff had seen too many clever little girls broken into pieces by Career boys. Thresh was patient though, and as he kept back while the numbers whittled down, against the backdrop of the Girl on Fire and the vicious pair from Two, Chaff believed he could wait it all out. Even as Two Boy went looking for him, Chaff believed that his strong boy could still win. And he believed it until the trained killer, mad as a dog, stepped off the field alone. 

And One Time Chaff Knew They Didn't

Chaff was forty-seven for the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games and Seeder was only fifty-three. Not doomed yet. But everyone had seen everyone’s games here; he wasn’t going to be able to sneak into the Career Camp at night and slit their throats without them realising. And somehow, without him realising, he had been cut out. Haymitch had his kids to worry about, he got that, but he was talking to Odair (and the boy might flirt now but Chaff could remember Cane and a boy who smiled a bloody smile) and Eleven was going to have to stand (and fall) alone.

**Author's Note:**

> This was more of an exercise than anything else really. It's not been beta-read, so feel free to point out any typos or anything :-) x


End file.
